Greys Anatomy

For those who think you can't learn anything from TV, take note: 'Grey's Anatomy' helped a young girl save her mother's life.

According to the Sheboygan Press, Kandace Seyferth unresponsive at the bottom of her stairs, unable to breathe because of a severe asthma attack. Her 10-year-old daughter flew into action. Madisyn Kestell called 911, then along with a friend, administered CPR, something she learned from ABC's 'Grey's Anatomy.'

"Me and my mom watch the show every Thursday, and I learned it from there," Kestell said. The young girl performed mouth-to-mouth while her friend, Katelynn Vreeke, pounded on Seyferth's chest.

Twitter got 'Grey's Anatomy' fans very excited this week, but were the tweets misleading?

'Private Practice' star Kate Walsh and the shows' creator Shonda Rhimes were all a-tweet about Walsh being back on the 'Grey's' set to shoot. But it's not another crossover episode (although Rhimes promises there will be one again soon) -- Walsh's Addison is there to reunite with her TV ex Derek (Patrick Dempsey) for a "what if?" episode.

TV Line is reporting that a very special February sweeps episode of 'Grey's' will see the gang at Seattle Grace in an alternate reality. A very alternate reality, one where Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) isn't so dark and twisty, her surgical pro mom Ellis (Kate Burton) never got Alzheimer's and -- brace yourselves, MerDer diehards -- Addison and Derek never broke up.

Shue, whom CBS has allegedly been courting for years, is set to become the new female lead opposite Ted Danson, who in turn replaced original cast-member William Petersen last year. Shue will play a new investigator who joins the team amid rumors that D.B. Russell (Danson) fired her when she worked for him in Seattle. Fresh from an anger management course, we expect tensions to flare between Shue's character and her new-old boss.

Helgenberger will no longer be a regular after this season, but she is expected to make occasional guest appearances. Shue's first episode will air on Feb. 15.

Three-time Golden Globe winner Cybill Shepherd will guest star in an episode of buddy-lawyer dramedy 'Franklin & Bash.' The TNT series is currently filming Season 2.

Shepherd will play one of Stanton Infeld's (Malcolm McDowell) many ex-wives, Evanthia Steele, who is on trial for kidnapping a neglected dog. Series stars Mark Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer will be her defense team.

The show will also welcome 'Ugly Betty''s Eric Mabius and Rick Rox. Mabius will play Rossi, a handsome prosecutor trying to take down dog-napper Steele and one-half of Jango & Rossi, the B-list version of dynamic duo Franklin & Bash. Fox will play Andre, a professional tennis player called in to testify in the dog-napping case.

Amy Sedaris vs. Alan Cumming? We're so there! The 'Strangers With Candy' star is joining CBS's 'The Good Wife' as a nemesis for Cumming's character Eli Gold.

According to TVLine, Sedaris will play Stacie Hall, a lobbyist who starts poaching Eli Gold's clients.

"We love Amy. We sometimes have dreams of switching all the actors from 'The Wire' and 'Strangers With Candy,'" Robert and Michelle King, 'Good Wife' co-creators and executive producers, said in a statement to TVLine. "The next best thing is to have Amy playing Eli Gold's nemesis."

Now in its eighth season, 'Grey's Anatomy' seems like the Shonda Rhimes engine that could, but have fans had enough of the drama at Seattle Grace?

Last night's ratings were the series' lowest ever, with 8.5 million viewers and a 3.0 rating, down 17 percent, leaving the show in third place for the hour behind 'Person of Interest' on CBS and Fox's 'The X Factor.'

So what gives? Is it just general fatigue, or are there certain storylines that fans aren't on board with? Was this a fluke, or a sign of the end? And can we just keep blaming it all on that musical episode?

With speculation about cast departures still in the air (Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo have both waffled about whether or not they'll return after this season), it's possible that fans are giving up on the show before their favorite stars do. But it's also just as likely the the MerDer relationship has just gone back and forth one too many times.

So I took to Twitter to hear the reasons straight from 'Grey's' fans ...

It seems as though behind-the-scenes contract wrangling is continuing to dog ABC medical drama 'Grey's Anatomy.'

Earlier this summer Patrick Dempsey seemed confused as to whether McDreamy's coming or going, and now Ellen Pompeo says she could be persuaded to stay on after the upcoming season 8.

Pompeo told TV Guide that she's open to the idea of continuing to play Meredith, but that her contract will soon expire and no one's actually asked her to stay on. "I would love the opportunity to discuss it," she says.

"I would never turn up my nose at 'Grey's.' ... If I hear from the fans that they want us to keep going, then I would continue because we owe them everything."

After T.R. Knight's highly publicized exit from 'Grey's Anatomy' in 2009, the actor has stuck to stage roles in the ensuing two years. Now, the man formerly known as Dr. George O'Malley has scheduled his return to the small screen.

According to TV Guide, Knight will guest star on a fall episode of 'Law & Order: SVU' as a "serial rapist who consistently maintains his innocence despite overwhelming evidence." There's not yet an airdate for the episode.

Hollywood is a magical place, but probably the most amazing thing about the entertainment industry is that any city can be faked.

Haven't you ever watched a show like 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' and wondered where in Philly Paddy's Pub is? Well, don't go searching, because in real life, it's on the Fox lot in Los Angeles, California.

And just a few doors down from the 'Sunny' set is 'How I Met Your Mother,' where the gang gets in trouble on the streets of New York City ... that are actually on a sound stage in L.A.

But there are shows where there's no way the magic of the city can be faked ... right? 'Mad Men' is so completely New York in the 1960s (shoots in L.A., in the present day) and the rainy Seattle backdrop of 'The Killing' had to be 100% authentic (actually it was Vancouver's raindrops you saw all season).

We thought we'd take a look at a few of the other best tricked cities on TV ...

The OR can be a stressful place for Dr. Derek Shepherd, given his stormy relationship with Meredith Grey on 'Grey's Anatomy.' It's also stressful for Patrick Dempsey, who plays Shepherd. Dempsey said Monday on 'Live With Regis and Kelly' (weekdays, syndicated) that the change of scenery while shooting 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' provided a nice stress release from the day-to-day grind of 'Grey's.'

Dempsey appeared glad that 'Grey's Anatomy' will be coming back for an eighth season, but shed light on some of the job's challenges. "It's very intense because the hours are long and there's so much drama going on each week -- we're together, we're not together, what's happening?" For 'Transformers,' Dempsey got to get outside and play action hero on-set in Chicago, where he said ten city blocks were shut down for filming. "It was a complete rush," he said. "It was a lot of fun."

Reports of McDreamy's demise may have been premature. Yesterday we reported that Patrick Dempsey said he's leaving 'Grey's Anatomy' at the end of the upcoming Season 8.

Now it seems that he may have to put away those golf clubs and get out the stethoscope again. According to E! Online, McDreamy misspoke. Kind of.

His rep. told E! News that when Dempsey told Italian 'Vanity Fair' that "It's gonna be my last. ... For me it's done," what he really meant was: "He was referring to the fact that his contract is up at the end of next season and we have no idea what the future holds."

So that's all cleared up then. Several members of the 'Grey's' cast -- including Ellen Pompeo -- have contracts expiring at the end of Season 8 and right now it's all up in the air. It's possible that there could be a mass exodus, but it's also possible that some of them will be renewed.

"It's gonna be my last," Dempsey said. "I do not know what's going to happen to the other characters, but for me it's done."

Dempsey's deal is up at the end of Season 8, as is Ellen Pompeo's. Both Dempsey and Pompeo have been with the series since the start. Pompeo has also gone on record saying she's probably not going to renew her contract.

ABC announced its fall 2011 schedule this morning, and there are a few surprises on the lineup.

New series 'Apartment 23,' 'Good Christian Belles,' 'Man Up,' 'Missing,' 'The River' and 'Scandal' are all being held until mid-season, as are returning shows 'Cougar Town' and 'Secret Millionaire.'

'Charlie's Angels' nabbed the prime Thursdays at 8PM slot, while 'Extreme Makeover Home Edition' is moving from Sunday nights to Fridays to make room for new series 'Once Upon a Time' at 8PM, with 'Pan Am' debuting in the 10PM slot.

Jessica Capshaw's character, Dr. Arizona Roberts, is about to be married to her girlfriend, Dr. Callie Torres, played by Sara Ramirez, on 'Grey's Anatomy.' It's the role for which she is best known, but Capshaw said today on 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS) that she is not mistaken as a lesbian in her real life as often as she would have thought, given the prominence of the show and the character she plays.

"Surprisingly not as much as I think you would think, because I think we watch television and we sort of come to understand characters as being real people," she said. "It's like if you saw Magnum P.I. on the street, you wouldn't think he was Tom Selleck, you'd think he was Magnum P.I. Same thing. But no."

What seems to upset her most was that no one seems interested in flirting. "The ladies don't give me a glance," she said. Also, no one has asked her to perform surgery. Not so much as a mole removal.